During a recent visit to the Hayward Gallery in London, two vendors’ carts were parked against a wall, and a row of visitors stood with their backs to them as they read the introduction to “Go Away Closer,” unaware that the carts were part of the exhibition featuring the works of the photographer Dayanita Singh.

Ms. Singh, a compact figure in silver-sequinned shoes, appeared at the top of a staircase and beelined through the visitors. She reached for the carts and explained that she had dismantled two of her old photobooks and slotted the pages into frames around the sides of the carts to form mobile albums. “This one is ‘House of Love,’” she said, which was her photobook that was published in 2011. “I’m a bookmaker, really,” she said, “but my medium is photography.” Read more…

Courtesy of Rushdie MediaSalman Rushdie, left, with British actor Eric Idle at the party to introduce Mr. Rushdie’s latest book “Joseph Anton: A Memoir.”

LONDON – It had been several years since the author Salman Rushdie was shadowed by London’s Special Branch officers, but on Friday night they were once again by his side. However, this was a celebratory occasion — to join him for the release of his latest book, “Joseph Anton: A Memoir,” in South Kensington.

Accompanied by the actors Stephen Fry and Eric Idle, the authors Ian McEwan and Hanif Kureishi, the rock legends David Gilmour of Pink Floyd and Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran, and fifty publishers who had flown in from around the world, Salman Rushdie devoted the night to those who had supported him since Valentine’s Day in 1989, the day that changed his life. Read more…

Courtesy of Ram ShergillA model sporting an outfit designed by Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla.

LONDON – It is not often that stilt walkers wearing columns of silk sway and totter on the pavement on New Bond Street. But on Wednesday evening, towering models in a fanfare of silk outfits embroidered with tiny mirrors greeted guests, including the steel baron Lakshmi Mittal and film director Gurinder Chadha, at a book launch and auction for the celebrated Indian designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla.

“India Fantastique” is a two-volume coffee-table book celebrating the 25-year partnership of the two couturiers from India, who met by chance in 1986 and set up a small boutique store in Juhu, Mumbai called Mata Hari. It was the beginning of an unlikely clothing and interior design empire (neither of the two had formal training) which became a favorite of the film industry A-list, such as the Indian actress Dimple Kapadia, and royalty, like Britain’s Princess Anne. Read more…

Crickets rub their wings, then the sound stops. Silence. A machine starts to grind, then stops. Silence. The crickets begin again, and the two sounds interchange with quickening frequency until a strangled gasp ends the sequence and a loud jet of steam is spat out from the walls.

I’m inside “Bhopal: A Silent Picture,” an experiential art installation by the Indian artist Samar Jodha, who has teamed up with Amnesty International in London to depict the Bhopal gas tragedy, which remains the world’s biggest industrial disaster.

“The temperature of the jet of steam drops to a single degree – the same temperature as the night of the disaster,” said Mr. Jodha. Read more…

Courtesy of ArcelorMittal OrbitA view of the Olympic Stadium from the ArcelorMittal Orbit in London, June 15, 2012.

“Steel. Art. Sport. A bold combination.” This is the tagline at the top of the invitation to a Champagne reception hosted by the steel magnate Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, and his wife Usha on Friday night to celebrate the newly opened ArcelorMittal Orbit at Olympic Park in London.

A bold combination indeed. The project came about after Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, bumped into Britain’s richest man in a cloakroom in Davos, Switzerland, and convinced him to do something for the Olympics. The Orbit, which was the result of that conversation, has opened to mixed reactions. Read more…

Babu/ReutersA worker uses a hose to clean the tracks at a railway station in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, March 14, 2012.

Dinesh Trivedi: ‘If you do not increase the fares, you are going to turn the railway coaches into coffins.’

The recent resignation of railways minister Dinesh Trivedi caused an uproar in India, and raised serious questions about the stability of India’s governing United Progressive Alliance. It has also shined a spotlight on the decrepit, outdated and unsafe conditions in some of India’s massive, 65,000-kilometer, or 40,000-mile, rail system, which carries seven billion passengers a year.

Mr. Trivedi, who was asked to leave after proposing a raise ranging from 2 paise per kilometer traveled to 30 paise per kilometer, said in an interview Wednesday that he would propose the fare hike again, because conditions are that dire. The railway system, some of which is 150 years old, is courting disaster by not investing money to repair tracks and adding safety features that are standard in other countries. Read more…

Dinesh Trivedi, the now ex-railways minister, proposed an increase in passenger fares last week citing safety and modernization of the railways as primary concerns. The move resulted in his dismissal by West Bengal chief minister and his boss, Mamata Banerjee, who said the fare increase was unacceptable and demanded a rollback.

In an interview on Wednesday, Mr Trivedi stood by his proposal, and laid out serious concerns about the safety of India’s rail system, which is used by more than 7 billion passengers a year.

Q.

How many years is it precisely since the fares were last increased?

A.

Nine.

Q.

How long have the railways been making a loss?

A.

As far as the passenger is concerned, without budgetary support the railways has been operating at a loss ever since fare stopped going up, but more so in the last five years. The most recent annual loss was 20,000 crore (200 billion rupees, or about $3.9 billion). Read more…

Election 2014: The Road to 545 Seats

India’s national elections will begin on April 7 and continue on nine separate dates until May 12, with results expected to be announced on May 16.

The vote is the world’s largest, with 814 million eligible voters set to choose 543 members of the lower house of Parliament. This election is widely considered to be India’s most consequential since 1977.

In the final stage of a long decline, Hindustan Motors announced in May that it would suspend production of the Ambassador, a car that was once synonymous with style and status.Read more…

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This report on India from the journalists of The New York Times and a pool of talented writers in India and beyond provides unbiased, authoritative reporting on the country and its place in the world. India Ink also strives to be a virtual meeting point for discussion of this complex, fast-changing democracy – its politics, economy, culture and everyday life.